Inter-Services Intelligence

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan, responsible for providing national security and intelligence assesment to the government of Pakistan. It was formed in 1948 by General Robert Cawthorne, a British Army veteran in Pakistani service, and the ISI is most famous for its cooperation with the United States' Central Intelligence Agency during the Soviet-Afghan War from 1979 to 1988, during which it sent men, weapons, and cash to assist the Mujahideen in fighting off the Soviet Union, as Pakistan feared that the Soviets would invade Baluchistan. The ISI continued to support Islamist rebels in Afghanistan in the 1990s, however, and around 40,000 Pakistanis fought under the Taliban regime during the Afghan Civil War and Afghanistan War, making up around 40% of the Taliban's footsoldiers in the 2001 US invasion. ISI has been involved in multiple actions against Pakistan's rival of India since 1948, and it is suspected of assisting Kashmiri separatists and Salafist terrorists in fighting against India.